a. Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with the bristles of a toothbrush and more particularly with the grouping of the bristles on the same toothbrush so that the brush can be used both as an interproximal and periodontal toothbrush. In applicant's prior application, Ser. No. 865,175, filed Dec. 28, 1977, now Pat. No. 4,185,349 only the shape of the brush and handle was disclosed. The present invention concerns the arrangement of the bristles as they would appear on a brush for the dual purpose of both cleaning and massaging the soft tissue next to the teeth. Studies show that as people get older the principal problem becomes not tooth decay but soft tissue deterioration about the gums leading to loss of teeth and other problems of that nature. In many cases as the gingiva starts to recede the gums become tender, with bleeding, shrinking and shriveling away from the teeth, causing the attachment process to become exposed and weakened, leading to eventual loss of teeth.
For many years proper treatment of the gums and attachment processes was never thought of since most concern was that of losing teeth due to caries. As the population was primarily young and good dental care comparatively new, little thought was given to that part of the population that was experiencing different problems with their teeth. But, recently, as the population started to age, and dental care became possible for more people, and, as more people kept their teeth into later middle and old ages, awareness reached both the profession and people generally, that much can be done to prevent people from losing their teeth at a later age due to gum disorders. This movement has been slow in coming and treatment and awareness was more narrowly restricted than at present. Recent events indicate that treatment has still been geared for the younger person, with processes such as flouridation, and that a definite need has arisen for a more useful toothbrush that can not only clean the teeth but also keep the older person's gums healthy. Most people realize today that cosmetically, nutritionally and functionally, natural teeth are far superior to dentures.
b. Description of the Prior Art
There have been many attempts to improve the bristles on a toothbrush over the past years. But this was mostly for the better brushing of the teeth with little thought concerning the soft tissue surrounding the teeth. There was scant concern for the abrading and irritating of the gums and other soft tissues. Many of the patents in this area are of foreign origin. In Great Britain Pat. No. 19408, an early patent, a wedge is formed separately from the main group of bristles which wedge was meant to clean between the teeth.
In Swiss Pat. No. 383322, the bristles form a dense mass at the top of the bristles for the purpose of brushing and cleaning the teeth.
In Great Britain Pat. No. 471,387, the bristles are set shorter toward the far end of the brush to help clean the crowns, with the tips of the bristles forming a corrugated pattern, and, with different sets of bristles for different purposes of teeth cleaning.
In Great Britain Pat. No. 385,238, the bristles are arranged in a curved manner so that the arc of the ends or tops of the bristles conform to the shape of the teeth in the jaws. In addition, the bristle knots can increase in length towards the ends of the brush facilitating the brushing of the rear molars.
In French Pat. No. 1,333,158, the improvement lies in the continually curved end surfaces of the bristles imparting the full force of the brushing to cleaning the crowns of the teeth.
In German Pat. No. 920,904, a two headed toothbrush is used with each head being of different shape and the bristles arranged on one head across the head and on the other head with the bristles arranged in a longitudinal direction.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,382,681, there is a crenelated effect with the larger group of bristles used to brush the teeth and the shorter groups of bristles, made from stiffer material, used for scraping and to support the longer but weaker bristles.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,649, there is a large number of thin bristles set in large tufts, with each tuft close together, with the length of each bristle on each tuft the same height.
In all of these bristles the invention does not concern itself with the soft tissues in the mouth and surrounding the teeth. There exists a need, unfulfilled as yet, for bristles able to clean between the teeth as well as massage and care for the gums to prevent bleeding as well as encouraging the health of the gums to continue their support of and binding to the teeth.